The Swan Princess
by snarkysweetness
Summary: Emma's P.O.V. during the nursery scene from 'Lady of the Lake'.


**Title:** The Swan Princess  
**Author:** snarkysweetness  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Characters:** Emma, Snow, Mulan, Aurora, & Cora as Lancelot; Emma/August  
**Summary:** Emma's P.O.V. during the nursery scene from 'Lady of the Lake'.  
**Warnings:** Charming Family Feels and Wooden Swan Feels.  
**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.  
**Author's Notes:** The lines from the show are obviously from the show and not mine. I also like to think Emma was trying to protect August because normally Emma would say something stupid like 'oh, this is how August and I got to Storybrooke' because Emma is a special snowflake. But she was really careful with the way she worded things in this scene which gave me feels. Anywho, I needed to get this out of my system, so here it is.

Emma stared out across the sea towards 'home'. Not her home, of course, but it was the place where she should have grown up with her parents while sneaking out to play with her friends (Pinocchio) and where her mother would have scolded her for not behaving like a 'proper' princess. She'd thought about this a lot since coming here. She wasn't ready to deal with everything that had happened so instead she played a game where she imagined what her life would have been like if Regina hadn't ruined it.

It was also the only way she could make herself think about August. She wasn't ready to deal with his death so she chose not to acknowledge it. Instead she made-up a life in her head where she was the rebellious Princess who fell in love with the Carpenter's son and fought with swords instead of attending balls and where she'd have kept her son and raised him with the family he deserved.

As they approached the castle, it felt weird to actually be seeing the place where her parents had been ready to build a life with her.

She stared in awe as they walked through the castle, finding it to be far more than she could have ever imagined it. As they entered a room that appeared to be a nursery, Emma gasped, recognizing the wardrobe in the corner.

"Oh my God…I recognize this from Henry's book." And from August's confession in the woods.

Emma ignored Aurora and Mulan as they left the room. She felt her heart rise to her throat. Her parents had actually wanted her. The toys, the crib…everything was proof that they had been ready to have a child. Her entire life she'd assumed they'd dumped her off somewhere but Henry had been right.

"I never thought I'd see this place again. This room…it was your nursery."

"I lived here?"

"You never even got to spend a night. This is the life I wanted you to have. I was going to teach you how to walk in here. How to talk, how to dress for your first ball…you never got to do any of it. We never got to be a family."

Emma tried not to think about any of it. Being here reminded her even more that she had a kid to get back to; a kid who needed her.

"We have a family; in Storybrooke. And right now, they need us to get back there. So, how do we get this to work?"

Emma motioned towards the wardrobe. Images of August's final moments flashed through her mind and she pushed them away. She couldn't think about him, not now. She had to focus only on Henry. Once she was home and knew that Henry was safe…then she could allow herself to mourn properly.

She poked her head into the wardrobe that had sent both her and August to Storybrooke. It was probably best not to mention the part where she hadn't come over alone. The poor man was dead, the least she could do was make sure his name wasn't tarnished because of a decision someone else had made for him.

Emma looked around the interior of the wardrobe, impressed. So they had both fit in here, huh? She had to admit, his dad knew how to carve beautiful things. This wardrobe, his son…

Right, Henry.

"Where's the 'on' switch?"

"It's more complicated than that. We'll have to get it back to the island. Hopefully, someone there has access to enough magic to make it work again."

"How are we going to carry this thing?"

"With the help of an old friend."

Emma glanced towards Lancelot, finding it to be a bit convenient that he'd come after them. But her mom didn't look worried so Emma bit her tongue, for now. She ignored their conversation for a moment, wondering how they'd carry this thing all the way back to the camp. Even with Lancelot the damn thing had to weight hundreds of pounds and it was a three-day journey without the extra baggage. It'd take them at least a week, maybe longer.

"So, this is it, the portal you were after."

"The same one Emma went through. That's how she skipped the curse."

With August. Dammit, she had to stop thinking about him. She could feel emotion welling in her chest when she thought about him and she couldn't break down, not now. When she got home she could cry over him, Henry dying and coming back to life, finding her parents, and all of this other craziness she was being forced to deal with.

"Remarkable…"

"Geppetto carved it from an enchanted tree, but there's no magic left."

Emma frowned. There he was again.

She glanced back to the wardrobe for a moment and when she turned back her mom had a sword on Lancelot. Aside from thinking her mom was a bad ass, Emma was also really confused.

"Stay away from him, Emma. He is not who he says he is."

"What are you talking about? Who the hell is he?"

"There's only one person you told Henry's name."

"Cora," Emma whispered, feeling stupid. Her mom had warned her not to trust Cora and she'd ran her mouth off and she'd been too stupid to connect the dots. Some savior she was.

Emma watched in horror as Lancelot became Cora in a puff of smoke that reminded her of the one that had brought magic to Storybrooke.

Okay, the nervous breakdown was going to happen before they made their way home. At least, it would if they kept running into magical fuckery like this.

Cora using magic to throw Snow against the wall snapped Emma out of her own head and back into action. Who had time for mental breakdown, right? She ran for her mom but Cora threw her back with magic. She could tell her mother wasn't breathing and Emma pushed herself up, determined to save her mom but Cora was too fast for her. A rug began wrapping itself around her legs, preventing her from moving. Emma cursed magic, preferring the traditional way of fighting.

"Why? Why are you doing this?" Snow cried out.

"I want to see my daughter. It's been too long. And you know; I would love to meet my grandson, Henry."

There was no way in Hell Emma wad letting this psycho anywhere near her son.

"No, you won't."

Emma reached for her gun and ejected a bullet. There was only way sure way to make sure Cora didn't get to Storybrooke using that wardrobe. She popped open the bullet and emptied the gun powder, starting a fire. She watched with triumph as it began to burn, but it was soon numbed when she realized that Cora wouldn't be the only one unable to use it.

Cora pulled the fire and used it to throw it at Emma. Emma was sure this was it for her but Mulan stepped in with her sword. She was sure they would all be done for but Cora apparated out of the room like a damn Wizard from those Harry Potter books Henry liked so much.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked her mother as she watched their only hope of getting home burn to ash.

"You saved me."

Emma shrugged. What was she supposed to have done? Let her die?

"Yeah, well… Where is she?"

"Gone."

"So's our ride home," Emma whispered, wondering how in the Hell they were supposed to get back to her kid now. She kept an eye on the wardrobe, only have invested in the conversation going on around her.

Once they were alone Emma finally spoke to her mother.

"I'm, uh, sorry I torched our ride home. I couldn't let her get to Henry. I just-"

"You had to put Henry first."

Emma fought back tears. She finally got it, what Henry had been trying to tell her all of this time. Her parents really had been trying to do the right thing by her. She'd been so consumed by her resentment towards them she hadn't been able to see clearly until now.

"I was angry at you for so long…wondering how you could choose to let me grow up without you. But then I just…seeing all this…you gave up everything for me. And you're still doing that. I'm sorry; I'm not good at this. I…I guess I just…I'm not…I'm not used to someone putting me first."

The tears were there now, she couldn't fight it anymore. Snow wrapped her arms around Emma and Emma hugged her back gratefully. Her entire life she'd wanted nothing more than to be hugged by her mother and here she was, finally reunited with her and everything was a mess.

"Well, get used to it."

Emma pulled away from her and shrugged her mother off, feeling silly for the tears. She wasn't sure what they would do now to get home but at least they would have each other.


End file.
